Rachel Lipson is the founder and CEO.

Rachel started out as a guitarist and songwriter working as a preschool teacher at Saint Ann's in Brooklyn Heights. She organically grew Blue Balloon from the ground up on her own. What began as a one woman music “school” in a studio in Brooklyn Heights has grown into what Blue Balloon is today: 50+ amazing, talented teachers, teaching over 350 students a week on many different instruments in NYC and Nashville.

Rachel has toured Europe and the UK and recorded twice at BBC Radio One in London following the UK release of her album “Pastures”. Her latest album “Tip Top” features some of our Blue Balloon students!

EXTREMELY PERSONALIZED SERVICE

Our team of amazing people interact personally with every single parent, working to align the styles of our arsenal of 50+ teachers with the goals you and your child have for your music lesson experience. We call this “musical matchmaking” and pride ourselves on making the best possible teacher/student matches!

Our founder personally hires and vets every single teacher and has set the bar super high, only hiring the most incredible musicians and teachers in NYC and Nashville and matching them with students based on availability and skill set. We want you to love the teacher we send to your home!

* OUR AMAZING TEAM *

Rachel Lipson

Founder & CEO. Director, Blue Balloon NY

Lauren Balthrop

Director & Teacher, Blue Balloon Nashville

Courtney Soifer

Lesson Coordinator, NY

Danielle Horowitz

Lesson Coordinator, NY

Jessica Rosenbloom

Lesson Coordinator, NY

Anne Juceam

Lesson Coordinator, NY

Sophie Dupin

Marketing Assistant, NY

Kristi Guigliano

Program Coordinator, NY

Kayla Jackmon

Assistant to the Director, NY

Cameron Benoit

Administrative Support, NY

Leta Tremblay

Administrative Assistant, NY

Below is a small sampling of our incredible Blue Balloon teachers,

who all teach songwriting and specialize in various instruments!

Maia

Maia has a very patient teaching style, develops long lasting relationships with her students and becomes very integrated into their lives as songwriters. She has been working with children for more than 15 years and loves the unique ways young creative kids look at the world. Maia has a degree in music composition from Bennington College and performs with her own dreamy electropop band called Uni Ika Ai, named after a favorite Japanese dish she loved to eat with her father.

Maia teaches songwriting on voice, guitar, and piano.

Michael

Michael has a gift of sparking the creativity in every student, encouraging them to write very profound songs. He has contributed music to the HBO series Bored to Death, toured with They Might Be Giants, and has worked as an on-set ukulele coach for movie stars. He has written a children’s book called My First Ghost, which was published by Disney Books. Michael also teaches at Avenues: The World School and The Gotham Writers Workshop. His band, A Man of Ideas, released an album of beautiful sea songs.

Michael teaches songwriting on guitar, piano, and ukulele.

Lily C.

Lily is patient, warm, and pours her heart and soul into her students’ work. Music has been the landscape of her family since birth - her grandfather, dad, and uncles all being successful singer/songwriters. She brings an old school bohemian NYC folk music family vibe to each lesson and helps kids connect and thrive in the world of music. She performs with her sister as The Chapin Sisters, but also with She and Him, Will Oldham and her Grammy award winning father, Tom Chapin.

Lily teaches songwriting on guitar, piano, and voice.

Laura

Laura comes from both a teaching and theater background and establishes a deep connection with all of her students, working with them to figure out what they need to succeed. As a result, her students create and perform music as beautifully and effortlessly as she does. She is an accomplished teaching artist at Theatreworks USA, Packer Collegiate Institute, and the Berkeley Carroll School. She studied musical composition at UCLA and is currently pursuing an advanced degree in music education at Hunter College.

Laura teaches songwriting on piano, guitar, voice, and ukulele.

Evan T.

Evan’s students love his chill vibe that helps them stay very focused. He inspires kids to not be afraid of the technical side of music instruction, while still keeping lessons upbeat and fun. He teaches his students to work hard and the end result is that they progress very quickly in their musicality. Evan served as the producer, drummer, and band leader for Bernie Worrell of Parliament Funkadelic and the musical director and multi-instrumentalist for Jimmy Destri of Blondie. He is also an accomplished record producer in both NYC and LA. Under his tutelage, your child will be an extraordinary part of the next generation of musicians.

Evan teaches songwriting on drums, piano, guitar, bass, and ukulele.

Lauren

Blue Balloon star teacher Lauren is extremely versatile, equally comfortable working with 3 year olds to write their own songs on a ukulele as she is teaching piano to adults. Her sweet southern charm and incredible dynamism that makes her a favorite among Blue Balloon students. She has an incredible amount of experience working with kids and is also finishing up a Masters in Music Education from Hunter College. Lauren was already an accomplished musician before finishing high school, mastering the piano, guitar, and voice at a very early age. She heads up the band Dear Georgiana, gifting the world with her beautiful and dreamy vintage pop. She loves engaging the young creative minds of Blue Balloon students! In the fall of 2017, Lauren moved to Nashville and is now leading the Blue Balloon expansion to Music City!